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πεντηκοντουτῶν. We are told that in Chalcis the magistrates had to be at least 50 years of age: νόμος δὲ ἦν Χαλκιδεῦσι μὴ ἄρξαι μηδὲ πρεσβεῦσαι νεώτερον ἐτῶν πεντήκοντα (Heraclides Fr. Hist. Gr. II p. 222), but advanced age was rarely a condition of holding office in Greek states. See Whibley Gk. Olig. pp. 148 f. τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς αὐγήν: ‘the radiant light of the soul.’ αὐγή is highly poetic in this sense: cf. Soph. Ajax 70. There is more than a touch of mysticism in this and similar passages throughout Books VI and VII (cf. especially VI 490 A, B), but it is exaggerated by Krohn (Pl. St. p. 187), who boldly declares that “the only person who correctly understood the later phase of the Republic was Plotinus,” and that “the so-called Platonic Dialectic is a Missverständniss.” παραδείγματι κτλ. See VI 484 C, 501 A—C notes
The Republic of Plato. James Adam. 1902. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
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